Ackelia Smith wins jumps double at NCAA championships
Jamaica’s Ackelia Smith of University of Texas completed a rare women’s long/triple jump double as the NCAA Division 1 championships came to an end on Saturday at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
Smith, who overcame an injury suffered at the NCAA indoors in March, produced a season’s best and college-leading 14.52m (0.9m/s) to win the triple jump. Two days earlier she had retained the long jump title in dramatic fashion.
The two-time World Championships representative, who went into the NCAA championships ranked number one in both horizontal jumps, took only four of her attempts on Saturday after starting with a 14.13m (1.0m/s) jump. Second-place finisher Darja Sopova of Illinois had a personal best 14.01m.
Shantae Foreman of Clemson University was ninth with 13.30m (0.4m/s) and Rhianna Phipps of the University of Nebraska jumped 13.01 (1.1m/s) for 14th place.
NCAA Indoor 60m champion Brianna Lyston of Louisiana State finished second in the women’s 100m in a wind-aided 10.89 seconds (2.2m/s), beaten by McKenzie Long of the University of Mississippi (10.82).
Former two-time champion Lamara Distin of Texas A&M University was a surprise fourth place in the high jump with 1.91m, while Roschell Clayton of Villanova was fifth with a personal best 1.87m, equalling her school record.
Gabrielle Matthews of University of Mississippi was seventh in the women’s 400m hurdles with 55.33, while Abigail Martin of Texas A&M was eighth in the women’s discus throw with 57.81m. Gabrielle Bailey of Kent State was 20th with 53.79m.